by in Harry Potter: Magic Awakened offers an experience like no other within the mobile gaming market. If you’re looking for a game that truly captures the essence of the MMORPG genre on mobile while maintaining one of the most free-to-play friendly systems in the industry, then Harry Potter: Magic Awakened will blow you away faster than you can say, “expulso!” From the immersive storyline, variety of game modes to keep any type of player hooked, and the social experiences that the game does so well to support, there is something for everybody in this latest entry to the Harry Potter universe.
The long-awaited global release of Harry Potter: Magic Awakened was on June 27th and was considered a remarkable launch. According to AppMagic, the global version reached over 3.75 million downloads and $2.33 million in IAP (In-app purchases) revenue in its first week. As a passionate mobile gamer, a free-to-play Harry Potter game was simply too difficult to ignore, and so a few days ago, I decided to dive in and see what it was all about. (MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD)
Table of Contents
Having avoided reading any reviews or seeing too much gameplay footage, I was immediately surprised when I loaded up the game and took my first steps within the Harry Potter: Magic Awakened world. The art, while subjective, feels quite fitting for the game. The characters are fresh and don’t feel like your generic mobile RPG cast. I was given a splendid oak wand and robe and then was introduced to what typically makes or breaks a game for me: the unique combat system.
An Engaging Combat System – Free of RNG
Though it was a short tutorial, it immediately became obvious to me that both the PvE and PvP combat would be a pleasure for either type of player. RNG is known to be quite frustrating for the majority of gamers out there, and typically games will offer ways to increase a player’s favorable chances through pay-to-win features. Luckily for Harry Potter: Magic Awakened players, that isn’t much of an issue, if at all. When casting your spells (or dodging your opponent’s spells), it comes down to your timing and prediction skills. If a spell connects with your opponent, you don’t have to hope that it succeeds in an accuracy check and hits them. The only thing close to RNG within combat is you and your opponent’s ping, but that isn’t an issue unique to Harry Potter: Magic Awakened.
This makes movement and positioning key in any combat scenario. Some spells force your opponent to reposition to avoid standing within a pool of poison. Or some spells that manipulate your opponent’s positioning, like Stupify, which violently shoves the target. There are a variety of creatures that can be summoned to fill the board and create a lively battlefield. Some creatures simply charge at your opponent and aim to dish out as much damage as possible, while others are used to grant buffs, heal, or shield you from your opponent’s attacks.
Immerse Yourself Into an Interactive World That Doesn’t Tie You Down
After dispatching some animated Monster Book of Monsters, I headed to Hogwarts. I was pleased to see that the game didn’t spend more time than necessary on developing an origin story that, in most games, ends up going right out of the window once the main story begins anyways. After making my way through some quests at Hogwarts, I was met with the second thing that caught my fancy: the level of interaction within the world.
I had a quest where I was to go on a broom ride around Hogwarts. I fully expected this to be a one-off activity and maybe just an introduction to a fast travel system – boy, was I wrong. Before I knew it, I was zipping around the Hogwarts campus like a madman. The controls and UI were smooth and it didn’t feel like being a mobile game prevented an enjoyable experience. I got a little too excited and ended up running into my first bug in the game. I couldn’t hold back the adrenaline junkie within me and attempted a dangerous dive between some trees. I ended up clipping underneath one of the trees, and without any sort of ability to unstuck myself, I had to force close the game. Thankfully I didn’t lose progress, but this effectively made me a more careful broom pilot for the future.
But the interactive experience didn’t stop at the end of a broomstick. The minigames within Harry Potter: Magic Awakened left an impression on me that I didn’t expect – especially since I’m a self-proclaimed minigame hater. I danced with a school rival by playing a rhythm game, brewed a potion with well-time button presses, and then the most interesting minigame of them all: I took a Harry Potter lore quiz in real-time with other players. The best part of it is you don’t have to be a diehard Harry Potter fan to succeed with the quizzes. You and your classmates operate as a sort of team, and if one of you gets the correct answer, you can quickly select the same answer as them and get credit. Alternatively, when one of you gets an incorrect answer, the others can more easily find out the correct answer through means of deduction.
The world is vast and more interactive than I would’ve expected for a mobile game, or any type of game for that matter. Now it was time to find out where the “grind” was in the game. When playing any game, a key aspect that determines whether I stick to it and how long I do is the grinding experience. For me, as long as it’s a satisfying journey, I don’t mind how long it takes. I already knew I’d enjoy PvP due to the nature of the combat system, so it was time to venture into the Forbidden Forest.
Overcome the Challenges of the Forbidden Forest and Reap Its Rewards
The Forbidden Forest is what players familiar with other mobile games would know as the “tower” game mode. There are numerous levels that you have to pass, with plentiful rewards along the way. One of the unique rewards of the Forbidden Forest are “echoes.” Echoes are sort of like the spirits of famous characters within the Harry Potter universe. Think Severus Snape, Harry Potter himself, and even characters like Dobby. Each Echo provides a unique effect to your deck and can boost particular cards that you might be using. This opens up a ton of customization options to make your deck feel unique to you. At certain milestones within the Forbidden Forest, you’re guaranteed a copy of various echoes, so you don’t have to be at the mercy of the gacha aspect of the game if you want to experience what echoes are all about. This makes for a very free-to-play friendly game.
The Solo Exploration within the Forbidden Forest was simple at first, but I could see how the challenge could quickly ramp up. If a player chooses to delay going into the Forbidden Forest for a while and takes it on later as a more experienced witch/wizard, the game grants you a buff for being much higher level than the content so that you can quickly reach the appropriate challenge for your current level. I’ve seen most games implement this type of quality-of-life feature past their first year of release – if they ever do. This seemed to be a common theme throughout the time that I spent playing the game: It does its best not to spend too much of your time or feel like a chore like most other mobile games do.
After getting some echoes for free from completing a few Forbidden Forest levels, I decided it was time I call it a night. Up to this point, I had acquired and used many golden keys and several silver keys. I had enough cards to generate some deck ideas for both PvE and PvP. I didn’t have any echoes that particularly stood out to me, but I saw that I’d get some more appealing ones if I continued to progress deeper into the Forbidden Forest (I’m looking at you, Bellatrix). Within a few hours of playing, I felt a bit spoiled. The rewards were generous, and I felt I was on a powerful start that I’d normally only feel if I spent hours rerolling for “meta” characters or items in other mobile games with gacha mechanics.
Harry Potter: Magic Awakened is an excellent addition to the mobile MMORPG genre. There are friends that I know that aren’t too fond of mobile gaming that I feel comfortable recommending the game to. It respects your time and doesn’t force you to dedicate a portion of your life force in order to progress. The cash shop isn’t as predatory as others within the genre, and beyond the cosmetics, the purchases are all unnecessary since you can easily acquire them with a little bit of time in the game. Even the card-drawing gacha aspect of the game didn’t feel too bad since the game rewards you with an abundance of keys in exchange for minimal effort. For a mobile game that comes from a popular IP, it ended up being much more free-to-play friendly than I expected.
The art is charming, and the animations are smooth. I didn’t experience any bugs besides getting stuck due to my reckless broom flying, but I did at times feel some optimization issues – though it could’ve very well been my phone and not due to the game itself. Overall, I’m quite pleased with the game and looking forward to putting more time into it so that I can write a proper review once I’ve experienced everything it has to offer. Keep a look out for that review within the coming weeks, and expect to see some more Harry Potter: Magic Awakened content here on Storm Rat Gaming.
Leave a Reply